


A Little Like This

by bansheee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Boys In Love, Canon Compliant, Community: HPFT, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Practice Kissing, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 15:34:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7720237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bansheee/pseuds/bansheee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I wish there was a way to practice first,” Dean commented. “Y’know, before the real thing.”</p><p>“We could,” Seamus said. “We could practice together.”</p><p>Dean balked, and Seamus held up his hands.</p><p>“No, no, hear me out,” Seamus’ cheeks flooded with red and Dean felt like his were just as hot. “Ya don’t want a girl to think you’re a shit snog, because she’ll go tell all the other girls, and then you’ll never get another one.”</p><p>“But I’m not—” Dean lowered his voice. “You’re my best mate. My best guy mate. I’m not gay.”</p><p> </p><p>  <em>first place in ImaRavenclaw's Angsty Boys Like Angsty Boys Challenge on HPFT!</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Like This

**** Perfection for Dean was a summer night outside, when the blistering heat of the day faded away and the sun dipped below the tree line, but you could still see for another precious hour. He ran across his step-dad’s crisp green lawn and kicked his football towards the makeshift goal on the other end. He watched as the black and white ball rocketed through the air and hit the metal frame of the goal, ringing out loudly with his force.

“Nice one,” a voice called out. Dean laughed and turned to see his best friend crossing the grass towards him.

“I’d like to see you do better,” Dean said to Seamus, hugging the boy when he got close enough. Seamus smelled like firewood and his mother’s cooking, something that Dean was looking forward to immensely the following week. “Did you just get here?”

“Yeah,” Seamus said as he dropped his arms from around Dean. “Mam’s inside talking to yours about the World Cup next week.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “They’ll be at it for a while then.” He jogged over to where his football lay forgotten in the grass. He kicked the ball between his feet towards Seamus, passing it to him when he got close enough. Seamus let the ball awkwardly hit him in the shin, and laughed.

“It’s too bloody bad your Muggle neighbors would see us if I took a broom out,” Seamus said, kicking the ball back to Dean.

Dean caught it under his foot and spun the ball back and into the air so he could juggle it on his knees. When he looked up Seamus was watching him and grinning. He let the ball fall in front of him and passed it back to Seamus. As he walked backwards towards the goalpost, he said, “Mum’s already said I could go, I dunno why she’s suddenly panicking so much.”

“Dunno, mate,” Seamus said as he walked up towards the ball. “Mam’s been acting weird the past few days, ever since she had tea with Madam Bones last week. That girl’s aunt from Hufflepuff.”

“Susan,” Dean said. “The one that’s the DMLE head?”

Seamus nodded. “Been hushed up and whispering with me dad since last week. I heard a bit; something’s going on at the school this year.” He took a few steps back and kicked the ball towards Dean.

Dean caught it against his chest with a soft thud and smirked at Seamus. “When hasn’t there been something going on at Hogwarts? I just want one year to worry about normal stuff. Not You-Know-Who.” He dropped the ball and kicked it back for Seamus to try again. “And I want Professor Lupin to get rehired.”

Seamus laughed as the ball rolled to a stop in front of him. “I just want to snog a girl this term.”

This time when Seamus kicked the ball, Dean missed and Seamus got the goal. Seamus let out a loud, sharp cheer, and Dean shook his head, laughing at his friend. He watched Seamus brush his sandy hair off of his forehead; his best friend was taller this year, though he still didn’t come close to Dean’s own growth spurt from last term.

“We’re probably the only blokes in Gryffindor who haven’t snogged a girl yet,” Dean said as he grabbed the ball out of the net.

“Us and Neville,” Seamus said. His smile drooped. “Bloody hell, what if Neville snogs a girl before us?”

Dean dropped the ball and ran with it across the backyard towards the opposite goal. As he neared Seamus, he kicked the ball with the outside of his foot so he could sidestep his friend. Seamus faltered, and Dean ran past him to score in the open net.

“If you snog a girl as bad as you play football you’ll have them all running to Neville,” Dean told him. He grinned as Seamus barked out a surprised laugh.

“Bloody hell, you’re probably right,” Seamus sighed. Dean looked over to him, could hardly make out the sour expression that tried to overtake his infectious grin in the fading sunset.

Dean kicked the ball across the yard, aiming at the door to his house. He grinned when the motion sensor turned on the backyard lights and soft orange filled the fenced in yard. Wizards could say what they wanted about Muggles, but electricity was great.

“I wish there was a way to practice first,” Dean commented. “Y’know, before the real thing.”

Seamus’ expression was thoughtful, mulling over the idea. The orange of the yard lights highlighted the features on his face, the furrow in his brow.

“We could,” he finally stated. At Dean’s confused expression, he clarified. “We could practice together.”

Dean balked, and Seamus held up his hands.

“No, no, hear me out.” Seamus’ cheeks flooded with red and Dean felt like his were just as hot. “Ya don’t want a girl to think you’re a shit snog, because she’ll go tell all the other girls, and then you’ll never get another one.”

“But I’m not—” Dean lowered his voice. “You’re my best mate. My best  _ guy _ mate. I’m not gay.”

“Me either!” Seamus was quick to say. “But it’s not like it’s the real thing. It’s practice for the real thing.”

Dean was quiet for a few moments. He could see that Seamus was starting to panic, but he didn’t say anything to comfort him.

He couldn’t snog  _ Seamus _ . Sure, he knew there were gay people that existed, but he never met one, and he definitely  _ wasn’t _ one. Not that there was anything wrong with being one, he just wasn’t.

Then again though, Seamus was right. He thought about the girls in Gryffindor. If it got around to Parvati or Lavender that Dean Thomas was a bad snog, every girl at Hogwarts would know about it in a day.

“Okay.” Dean’s voice cracked, and he cleared his throat before he said, “Yeah, okay, you’re right. We should practice.”

Seamus’ shoulders visibly relaxed. “Alright, yeah.” Dean watched as he looked around the yard. “Come’ere then.”

“You want to do it right now?” Dean knew his best friend was bullheaded and didn’t think things through, but he felt like they should discuss it more. He told Seamus as much. “Don’t you think we should go to my room or something?” Their backyard was fenced in and private, but the bedroom windows overlooked it.

“Can your family see us from the main room?” Seamus asked, looking towards the house. “Ya know your sisters are listening to me mam talk about Quidditch.”

Despite his nerves, Dean chuckled. The football nets in their backyard were more for his sisters than him; they both played on leagues at their school and during the summer holiday.

“I guess not,” Dean reasoned. “Alright.” Even though he was a Gryffindor, he still felt panic starting to set in. He took a few slow steps over to Seamus, wiping his clammy hands off on his shirt. He didn’t know where to start. Should they sit down or stay standing? Should he let Seamus decide? He didn’t even know how to kiss someone that wasn’t his own mum.

As Dean stopped in front of Seamus, Seamus said, “We can never tell anyone.”

“Bloody right we can’t,” Dean agreed, relaxing a bit. It was just Seamus. He slept in the same room as the boy nine months a year; he could give him a quick snog. He knew it wouldn’t mean anything, and it would make the real thing even better.

“Right,” Seamus said.

“Right,” Dean agreed.

Dean looked down to Seamus’ trainers, bit his lip to hide his smile at the small patch of green clovers they were standing in. He wondered if he should point out what he was sure Seamus would consider a premonition for Ireland at next week’s World Cup.

His heart raced in his chest as he looked back up. “Should we—”

“Girls like it when you start slow,” Seamus told him. Dean had no idea what girls liked, so he nodded dumbly. “So just – we’ll do that, and go from there.”

Dean nodded again and Seamus took another step closer. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened his eyes Seamus was taking a step back. As fear flooded Dean, Seamus said. “We should sit. You’re too bloody tall.”

Dean couldn’t help but laugh. He watched as Seamus sat cross-legged, so he copied the gesture. The grass was cool on his hands as he ran his fingers through it for something to do.

“Right then,” Seamus said again. “Let’s snog.”

He watched as Seamus started to lean forward. Before he lost his nerve, he did the same.

As their lips touched softly, Dean thought it was everything and nothing he expected. He didn’t think Seamus would inhale softly just before it happened; he didn’t expect to feel the boy’s breath onto his lips. He didn’t expect to feel his heart surge from his chest to the tips of his fingers. He was still hesitant, and he expected the same from Seamus, so after a few seconds they both pulled back.

He sat up straight and Seamus did the same.

“That was—” Seamus started, and trailed off as he mulled over his thoughts.

“It was good,” Dean said, because it was true. If kissing Seamus made him feel like that, he couldn’t imagine what kissing a pretty girl like Parvati or Lavender would feel like. He could tell Seamus wasn’t expecting him to say that, so he added. “Good for practice, at least. I don’t think that would scare a girl off.”

Seamus’ shoulders relaxed. “Right. I’m going to snog ya for real this time.” Dean froze;  _ for real? They were going to snog more than once? _ He watched as Seamus’ eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not just going to give a girl a little peck on the lips and be done.”

“Oh,” was all Dean managed to say. He watched as Seamus lifted his hand and brought it to Dean’s cheek. Dean closed his eyes. He felt Seamus’ hand lead him forward, so he leaned in and kissed Seamus again.

This time they didn’t pull away after one touch of lips. After a few chaste kisses, Seamus scooted himself closer until their knees bumped. The next time their lips touched, Seamus’ mouth was open. Dean copied him as much as he could, even down to bringing his own hand to Seamus’ cheek. He jumped slightly in surprise when he felt Seamus’ tongue; it wasn’t as unpleasant as he thought it would be. His heart raced in his chest as he felt Seamus’ fingers on his cheek. He thought Seamus was better at kissing than he was, so he followed the boy’s lead as they continued the snog. Dean felt like he was floating on a cloud when Seamus finally pulled away.

Neither one of them spoke. Dean forced himself to break the eye contact they shared, so he looked down to the boy’s reddened lips. The lips  _ he _ reddened.

“Are you going to try out for Wood’s Keeper spot on the Gryffindor team?” Seamus asked him.

Dean opened his mouth, blinked in confusion, and closed his mouth. He thought they were going to discuss their… technique, not jump from snogging to talking about Quidditch with no transition.

He was overthinking it, he knew. If there was anything wrong with his snogging technique, Seamus would have told him. They practiced, Seamus deemed him acceptable, and now they were done.

“I want to hold out for Chaser in sixth year, when all the girls graduate,” Dean felt himself saying. He couldn’t even think about Quidditch; he’d probably fall off a broom if he tried to fly right now. He finally tore his eyes away from Seamus’ mouth. He watched as Seamus stood and stretched, his Ireland kit riding up as he did. Dean quickly adverted his eyes, looking to the squashed clovers in front of him.

If snogging Seamus felt that amazing, he couldn’t wait to snog someone for real.

*

They didn’t talk about it.

They didn’t talk about it when Dean stayed at Seamus’ house for the days leading up to the World Cup, when Dean slept on his bedroom floor and Seamus laid awake looking at his ceiling. It didn’t come up when they took a Portkey to the game and slept side by side in his parent’s tent, celebrating Ireland’s win with other fans.

Even when summer faded and fourth year started with the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament, Dean never brought up their kiss in his backyard.

Really though, Seamus didn’t blame him. When he remembered back to that night, remembered the way Dean stared at him after it happened, Seamus had to say something to lighten the mood. He knew what they did could ruin their friendship and Seamus wasn’t going to let that happen.

Sometimes if Seamus watched Dean, he could tell Dean was thinking about it. When Seamus would talk about Ireland at the World Cup, he could see Dean space out and catch himself, and grow slightly flustered. It didn’t happen enough for Seamus to worry, though. He knew Dean was just like him, excited to snog a girl and have that feeling again.

Of course, just as Seamus decided to stop thinking about it, the Yule Ball was announced.

Seamus was doing homework next to Dean in the Gryffindor common room when a throat cleared across from them. They both looked up at Lavender, standing on the opposite side of the table. Instinctively, Seamus looked for Parvati behind her, but Lavender was alone.

“Seamus,” she started immediately. “Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?”

He blinked. He’d been so sure that Lavender was going to say something stupid about his incident in Potions class, that he was thrown back by her question. He looked to Dean, who was just as surprised as him, before looking back to Lavender.

“Ah, yeah, Lavender,” Seamus said, grinning at Dean. “I’ll go to the ball with ya.”

Lavender shot him a smile that made his heartbeat faster. “Brilliant!” she said in her excited, high pitched voice. “We’re just going as friends. My dress robes are purple, please match them.” She didn’t give Seamus time to reply before she was skipping off towards the portrait hole.

Seamus looked at Dean again. He knew his mouth was hanging open, and Dean clapped him on the back. Dean grinned at him, and Seamus finally broke out into one of his own.

“Did that just happen?” Seamus asked.

“Bloody right it did!” Dean said loudly. A few sixth years glared at them, so Seamus leaned in towards Dean.

“You should ask Pavarti,” Seamus told him. Dean smiled at the thought. Seamus knew Dean thought Pavarti was pretty, and that way they could hang out at the ball. Even if Lavender said they were just going as friends, Seamus was willing to bet he could get her to snog him if he was nice to her.

“Yeah,” Dean said. “I will.”

Seamus could tell he was contemplating, so he elbowed him in the side and said, “Better ask her before someone else snags her up.”

Despite Seamus’ badgering, Dean didn’t ask Pavarti in time, and she went to the ball with Harry. Seamus had a good time with Lavender until he lost track of time and Lavender pulled him out of the Great Hall and behind a tapestry. As he followed behind her, idly wondering where Dean disappeared to, Lavender stopped in front of him. Before Seamus realized what was going on, he felt pressure on his mouth and a sickly fruit smell wafted towards his nose.

Lavender was snogging him.

It took him a moment to realize what was going on, and it was a moment too long for Lavender. While he was sure his face was comically confused, Lavender gave him an offended look and ran off. Once his initial confusion was over, he touched his fingers to his lips and wiped off the sticky gloss. It reminded him of his great auntie. He started towards the Gryffindor common room to find Dean.

Dean was sitting alone in the fourth year boy’s dorm when Seamus opened the door. He looked up from his Defense Against the Dark Arts book and gave Seamus a grin.

“How’d it go?” Dean asked him.

Seamus looked to his dress shoes. “Alright, I guess. Lav’s really bossy and her lip gloss was too slippery.”

When he looked back up, Dean was struggling to sit up. “You snogged her?”

_ Yes, and it was as awful as History of Magic. _ Seamus shrugged, forcing what he hoped was a cheeky grin on his face. Dean stood and made a noise of excitement.

“I think I messed it up,” Seamus told him after a beat. “I didn’t know she wanted to snog me; she just attacked my face.”

It was quiet for a moment until Dean said, “Not enough practice?”

Seamus felt his heart stutter; when he looked at Dean the boy had an amused expression, but Seamus saw through it.

They were going to talk about it.

He chuckled nervously. “Eh, suppose not. Bit different with you.”

“I’d think as much,” Dean commented. Seamus laughed again, for lack of anything better to say. “At least you can say you’ve snogged a girl now. Better than me.”

“We should practice again,” Seamus blurted. He fidgeted with the hem of his dress robes – green, for Ireland, with a corsage charmed to match Lavender.

Dean’s smile faded to surprise. Seamus wasn’t sure what to make of it, until Dean closed his book and sat up so his feet were off the bed. “Yeah, we could.”

Seamus grinned and sat on his own bed, facing Dean. He was on the edge of his seat and his knees were almost touching Dean’s. Dean was already changed into his pajamas, a pair of scarlet flannels. “Er – Lavender just attacked me, so—”

“So they don’t like when you start out slow?” Dean offered with a grin.

Seamus chuckled, feeling his cheeks heat up at his own words. “Guess not.”

“Good to know,” Dean said, and surged forward. For the second time that night, Seamus found himself being surprised into snogging someone.

That unforgettable night in the summer, Seamus took things as slow as he possibly could for fear of scaring Dean off and losing him as a friend. Now as a small fire burned in their room to combat the cold December draft in Gryffindor Tower, Seamus threw his hesitation to the wind. He wanted to feel the way his heart raced in his chest again as he and Dean snogged.

Kissing Dean was nothing like kissing Lavender. Or maybe kissing Lavender was nothing like kissing Dean. His head spun as Dean pulled back and wet his lips, before bringing their mouths together again.

They were best friends; that’s was why it was so easy with Dean. That was why Seamus could drop his hand on Dean’s knee and squeeze as he pushed closer and deepened the kiss. Dean constantly made fun of his height, but as he stood so he was taller than Dean and leaned down to keep snogging his friend, Dean had nothing to say.

Seamus was hard on account of the general snogging, and he wondered if what they were doing was having the same effect on Dean. He wondered how great it would feel when he could snog Lavender again after this; if he’d be so experienced she’d let him feel her chest. He would be nice to Lavender for months if that’s what he got out of it.

Loud voices rang out in the dormitory staircase and Seamus and Dean both pulled back. Seamus froze as he fell down off the cloud he’d been floating on, waiting for the voices to pass.

“It’s Harry and Ron,” Dean said, voice raspy from snogging, but urgent. He scrambled to tug his duvet up, and as he situated himself to feign sleep, he added, “Go hide in the loo for a few minutes, your face is red.”

Seamus nodded dumbly and did as Dean said. He shut the door to the loo just as Harry and Ron opened the door, immediately drowning out their voices. He could hear them muttering in hushed voices as they thought Dean was asleep.

Seamus splashed cold water on his face and thought about Professor Snape for a few minutes until he was safe to go back into the dorm.

*

They still didn’t talk about it.

Fourth year ended with Cedric Diggory, the other Hogwarts Champion, dying. Dean still didn’t tell Seamus how snogging him made him feel like he was floating and drowning all at once. He spent the summer in his backyard, tearing up his step-father’s lawn in frustration as he kicked the football towards the goalposts. Seamus visited, and Dean listened to him repeat his mother’s words about the lies their classmate was telling about You-Know-Who.

They didn’t snog again.

Fifth year came and went; Dean finally convinced Seamus that his mother was wrong, and the pair joined Dumbledore’s Army.  He managed to cast a Patronus Charm, and laughed as he watched his floppy eared dog chase Seamus’ fox. He mouthed off to Umbridge and got his first scar of the war.

He and Ginny Weasley started talking, and they wrote all summer. Dean saw Seamus a few times, but they didn’t talk about the snog.

Dean asked Ginny to be his girlfriend. He pulled her aside after her Quidditch practice one night and kissed her under the stands. Ginny responded enthusiastically, standing on the tips of her toes to kiss him back. Her cheeks were pink when she pulled back, and Dean smiled at her. Ginny ran off with Demelza a minute later, leaving Dean alone in the setting sunlight.

“What do you mean,  _ alright _ ?” Seamus asked later that evening when it was just the two of them in the dorm. They sat across from each other on their beds, reminding Dean all too much of that night in fourth year. “You finally snogged a girl. How can ya say it was just alright?”

Dean scuffed his trainer against the wooden floor. It wasn’t like he could tell Seamus  _ it was nothing compared to when I snogged you _ .

“Dunno,” he eventually said. He looked up to Seamus, looked at his messy blonde hair and loosened red tie, crooked against his chest. “It was nice, and Ginny’s brilliant.”

He wondered what Seamus would do if he just leaned over and snogged him. He’d never do that to Ginny, regardless of how her kiss made him feel, but he couldn’t help but wonder; would Seamus push him away and be disgusted, or would he kiss him back just like before? 

“I like her; it’ll get better,” Dean finally decided. He shot Seamus a grin, and Seamus returned it after a beat.

For a while, his prediction was right. He liked holding Ginny’s hand in Hogsmeade and kissing her before they went to separate classes. Seamus always made faces at him when he caught them in the act; too big smiles and elbows to the side were his way of encouraging Dean.

His and Ginny’s fall from grace was slow, painful and heartbreaking. Dean wanted things with the Weasley girl to work out so badly, but he could see the way she looked at Harry… how she always looked at Harry. He wasn’t surprised when she ended things on a stupid misunderstanding, and he wasn’t sad when he found out she and Harry were together a few weeks later.

Seamus clapped his hand on Dean’s back. “It’s not like you lost ‘er to some random bloke. She’s dating  _ The Chosen One _ .” His tone was so sarcastic, Dean couldn’t help but smile; Ginny hated when they took the mickey about Harry, even when she knew they weren’t being serious. Seamus gave him one of his infectious smiles, and Dean felt his stomach turn.

He fancied Seamus.

It wasn’t some big dreadful realization like it probably should have been. He wasn’t gay; he was attracted to Ginny when they were together. He was just also attracted to the boy sitting across from him, and wanted to be able to kiss that boy all the time.

“At least I know it wasn’t my snogging,” Dean joked half-heartedly. “Just the hero of the modern wizarding world.”

Seamus laughed again, and bumped his knee against Dean’s. Dean looked up at him and caught his eye contact.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was surprised one of them didn’t come out of it with a broken nose. Seamus stood at the same time Dean leaned forward and their mouths crashed together. Gasps of air and a clank of teeth were all that could be heard as Dean tried to get as close as possible to Seamus. His hands were shaking, so he threw inhabitation to the wind as he squeezed Seamus’ arm and pulled him closer. Dean was almost a foot taller than Seamus and could feel the boy shake as he stood on the tips of his toes.

How could he tell Seamus about what he was feeling? He knew Seamus enjoyed the snogging but that didn’t mean he fancied Dean back, that just meant he was a normal teenager. He wanted to be able to do this all the time and more; he wanted to be able to snog Seamus whenever he wanted, to hold his hand as they walked down the corridor joking about nonsense.

He couldn’t tell Seamus this, but he could put everything he had into this kiss and hope that it would make Seamus love him back. He slid his arms down until they were wrapped around Seamus’ waist and pulled the boy back until he could sit. Without breaking the kiss, he pulled on Seamus’ waist until Seamus got the hint and climbed on top of him. He gasped into Seamus’ mouth when he felt Seamus against him; he was hard, and so was Seamus.

Dean was so lost in the way it felt to have Seamus on top of him, pressing against him and snogging him, that they didn’t hear the handle of the dorm room door twist. They didn’t hear the way it thumped against the stone wall. It wasn’t until a familiar voice said, “Oi, guys,” that dread filled Dean’s chest.

Seamus scrambled off of him as Dean tried to push him off.

“It’s not—”

“We’er—”

“Look, I don’t care,” Ginny said. Dean could tell her concern was only just keeping her laughter subdued. “Something’s happening at the Astronomy Tower; we have to go. Have you seen Neville?”

*

Albus Dumbledore was dead.

Seamus didn’t talk to Dean about it.

Not because he could casually avoid the topic through Quidditch banter and hours spent on homework, but because Dean couldn’t prove his lineage so he couldn’t attend Hogwarts.

Seamus thought he would feel lost for the whole school year without Dean. He thought he’d go to class with no one to sit by, forced to go through his final year in solitude.

He was so wrong.

In class he couldn’t focus on anything else but the pain as he had his face pounded in by the Slytherin oaf Goyle. He focused on his wand work as he brought people to the Room of Requirement, where Dumbledore’s Army set up a safe space.

He only let himself think of Dean while he laid awake at night in the confinements of the Room of Requirement, where he would eventually stay. He let his thoughts drift to the grass in Dean’s yard during their first kiss, the way his four-poster sheets felt as he curled his knuckles in them after the Yule Ball, and the relief he felt in sixth year when he realized Dean wanted him just the same.

He wondered if he would ever see Dean alive again.

He didn’t talk about it with anyone. Even the night he, Neville, Hannah and Ginny went on a rescue mission for a few young Hufflepuffs that got left behind, Ginny didn’t bring up what she saw in their dormitory, and Seamus was grateful for it. He supposed it didn’t matter to her; Harry was it for her.

It wasn’t until spring when Neville sat up in his hammock, holding a fake Galleon.

“It’s Luna,” he whispered to Seamus. “She escaped the Malfoy’s dungeon with Dean.”

Seamus stared at Neville, unable to speak. He wondered if Neville knew.

“Dean’s safe,” Neville told him.

Seamus had almost forgotten what hope could feel like.

*

Dean didn’t recognize him.

It wasn’t until Seamus shouted with joy that Dean realized the boy running towards him was his best friend. The boy collided into him with a force that knocked Dean back a step. Mixed in with curse words and the start of tears, he heard Seamus mumbling how Dean could never leave him again.

Dean held him just as tight, trying to convey everything he couldn’t say to his best friend over the years.

“You’re…” Dean pulled back from Seamus. He heard Harry start to address the group, but he ignored it for a moment. He brought his hand up slowly and touched Seamus’ face. “Who did this? I’ll curse them.”

Seamus winced when Dean’s fingers made contact. “It doesn’t matter. You’re here, that’s all that matters.”

Idly, Dean realized he should probably pull his hand away from Seamus’ face. He couldn’t bring himself to take his eyes off Seamus as a plan formulated. He didn’t have a wand, Seamus was beat to shit, but they were going to fight.

As they waited for Harry and Luna’s return from Ravenclaw Tower, plans to fight and groups formed. They chatted with a few Hufflepuffs, listening to Ernie give some younger students a crash course on Patronuses. Dean pulled Seamus away from Ernie and Hannah as the younger students tried the spell.

He was a Gryffindor. He was ferocity and fire and he could get through this.

“I don’t ever want to snog you for practice again,” Dean told him.

Seamus visibly recoiled. “Ah—I don’t think now’s the time—”

“When this is over, this battle, You-Know-Who, all of it, I’m going to find you and snog the piss out of you, and it’s not going to be  _ practice for the real thing _ . It’ll be the real thing.”

Seamus looked up from the floor. “Wha—”

“And if you don’t ever want to talk to me again after, it’ll break my heart but I’ll understand. I just can’t keep—”

In two steps, two seconds, Seamus moved forward and snogged Dean. His big confession faded away as Seamus’ lips touched his. He didn’t care that everyone they knew probably saw them. He didn’t care that Ginny was in the room. He rested his arms on Seamus’ shoulders, pulling him closer.

As quick as Seamus ignited, he burnt out and pulled away.

“I just needed to practice once more,” Seamus told him. Dean stared as a fierceness burned in his best friend’s eyes. Dean felt like he was about to crash, until Seamus cocked a crooked grin. “I’m snogging me best mate later.”

Practice did make perfect, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to Bianca/victoria_anne for giving this a beta read, and thanks to Fin for teaching me all the sports things :D Thanks for reading! The title of this story is from the song "My First Kiss" by 3OH!3/Ke$ha. If you're looking for more Deamus/Harry Potter fun my tumblr is bansheehp.tumblr.com


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